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James Harrison, 1st Earl Harrison
'James Steven Harrison '(born February 6, 1996) is an English singer-songwriter. Harrison was first discovered in 2010 in London by Robbie Williams, who discovered the then 14 year old performing in the British capital. Williams introduced Harrison to Virgin EMI executive Richard Branson and signed him to EMI Records. He released his debut studio album'' Listen in August 2012 after beginning the recording in mid-2011. The album was almost entirely done by Harrison himself, except his number one hit "Payphone" that was a collaboration with American rapper Wiz Khalifa. The album was certified twenty times platinum in the UK, indicating at least 6,000,000 sales and was certified seventeen times platinum in the US (17,000,000 sales). It also sold 5 million sales in Japan making it the ninth selling of all-time in Japan and the best-selling by a non-Japanese artist. He would follow this up with his 2013 album ''Apocalypse ''which also saw high sales worldwide to date around 5,100,000 in the UK and 13,000,000 in the US. He also released a cover album of Michael Jackson's songs entitled ''The King ''in 2014 this was his highest praised album, it saw worldwide sales of 22 million within six months of its release. It also spawned eight UK number one singles. To date he has earned six number one albums and sixteen number one singles, this record only bettered by Elvis Presley (21) and The Beatles (17). Harrison's two studio albums won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year, these are two of nine Grammy's he has won in total. To date he has had 125 million album sales and around 80 million single sales which would rank him as one of the best-selling artists of all-time. Career 2011–12: Beginnings and ''Listen After signing for EMI Records in 2011 Harrison began recording he debut album stating that it would be a pop rock genre of album vagly similar to Maroon 5. Harrison had to mix in GCSE's with the recording of the album and said that was the reason the album took 14 months to record. Harrison said the writing of the album was quite easy and took less than a month but juggling GCSE's and recording was difficult. He said it was difficult to keep it secret from people at his school. A week prior to the release of his debut single "Lucky Strike" he previewed it to his school year group. He said in an interview that he was proud of the album and he planned to release several singles. In the recording despite constant efforts Harrison had no help at all other than on the recording "Payphone" which featured vocals from rapper Wiz Khalifa. This would also be his second single from the album. The album was released in August 2012, by this point he had already released four singles earning himself three number one singles only "One More Night" failed to reach the summit of the UK charts peaking at number two. The album was a huge commercial succes selling 6 million copies in the UK alone and an estimate 50 million worldwide. It earned 5 million sales in Japan becoming the third best-selling of all-time in Japan and the best-selling in the country by a foriegn artist. Its 50 million sales ranks it as the second best-selling album of all-time in the world, behind only Thriller ''(65m) by Michael Jackson. The 6 million sales in the UK ranks it joint best-selling in the UK with ''Greatest Hits ''by Queen. After its release Harrison released a further three singles all reached the top three and the final single "Wipe Your Eyes" remains his best-selling single with around 15 million worldwide sales. 2013: Apocalypse and global super stardom Around a month after the recording of ''Listen ''was completed Harrison began writing for a follow up album. He began recording November 2012 and released the first song from the album "You're Nobody 'til Somebody Loves You" in April 2013. Two days after the released Harrison announced he has called the album ''Apocalypse and had a planned release date of October 20, 2013. In an interview with Jay Leno he said he was to work with Adele and Beyoncé on the recording of two songs. He also confirmed in the writing he would be working with Justin Timberlake, Paul Epworth, Gary Barlow, Leona Lewis, R. Kelly and Taio Cruz along with Adele and Beyoncé. He released "Recovery" as a second single in June, the song reached number one on the UK charts after "You're Nobody 'til Somebody Loves You" reached number two. He released the album on the planned date of October 20 and also his song "Certain Things" on the same date which was a collaboration with Beyoncé. This reached number one in the UK and US. He also stated that he would released "Smoke Clouds" and "Emergency" at towards the end of 2013. This album made Harrison a super star worldwide as his previous album he made him big worldwide, this made him huge. 2014–present: The King, Rock Covers ''and ''Xscape Harrison began 2014 by announcing he had recorded a cover album of Michael Jackson's songs, and its lead single "Bad" was to be released on January 2. The album was released on February 9 and debuted at number one and following its release it was highly praised critics as his best albums ever and one of the best ever albums. To date he has released eight singles and all have reached number one. The album was highly successful reaching number one every where it was released. To date it has sold over a million copies in Canada, Germany, Japan, the UK and the US. "Man in the Mirror" is the best selling single from the album with worldwide sales of around 12.5 million. In April 2014 he announced plans to record and release a cover album of Love songs in late 2014. He will release an album in 2015 which is an original album entitled Electric Pulse. ''After releasing the eight singles from ''The King album he released a cover of Creed's "With Arms Wide Open" in April 2014. In April 2014 he released a six-track EP Rock Covers from which he released covers of "With Arms Wide Open" and Linkin Park's "Powerless". This album debuted at number one on the UK albums chart making Harrison only the second artist after The Beatles to replace themselves on the UK albums chart. He announced that he would release a fourth album towards the end of 2014 entitled Xscape ''which will see him revert to pop rock with a Michael Jackson feel to it. Discography ''or List of songs recorded by James Harrison *''Listen'' (2012) *''Apocalypse'' (2013) *''The King'' (2014) *''Xscape'' (2014) *''Electric Pulse'' (2015) Personal Life Harrison did date American TV personality Kylie Jenner, they broke up in February 2014 following rumours he had been secretly dating her older sister Kendall. Around a month after the break up he was seen with Canadian tennis player Eugenie Bouchard, he did confirm they were dating a while later. He has denied relationships with Abigail Breslin, Stefanie Scott, Hailee Breslin and Lorde. Since rising to fame Harrison has had numerous feuds with different artists, most notably with Justin Bieber. He also stated that he wanted to find musical talent on YouTube and by scouting. See Also *List of James Harrison feuds